Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1993

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 27, 1993Walsh County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 27, 1993, 3:18 PM CDT for Walsh County, North Dakota. It was in force for 57 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 27, 1993, 3:18 PM CDT (20:18 UTC)
Expired: Jul 27, 1993, 4:15 PM CDT
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Walsh County, ND

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 286 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 183 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -119 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 680 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 104 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 272022 COR
TORFAR
NDC099-272115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED FOR TIME OF OCCURRENCE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
318 PM CDT TUE JUL 27 1993

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE NORTHEAST PART OF NORTH DAKOTA
      WALSH

AT 310 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 30 MI NORTHWEST OF
GRAND FORKS NEAR PARK RIVER MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MILES PER HOUR.
NUMEROUS FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED FROM LOCAL LAW
ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.  THE CITIES OF PARK RIVER AND GRAFTON ARE IN
THE PATH OF THIS STORM.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FLYING
DEBRIS WITH CUSHIONS...BLANKETS...OR PILLOWS.

JEURISSEN

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 27, 2:50 PM CDT, 28 minutes before

NDZ012-013-014-015-016-017-018-MNZ001-006-007-010-011-013-272045-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT FOR COLD AIR FUNNELS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
245 PM CDT TUE JULY 27 1993

...COLD AIR FUNNELS REPORTED OVER JUST NORTHWEST OF LAKOTA IN NELSON
COUNTY AND IN THE MCCANNA AREA OF WESTERN GRAND FORKS COUNTY...

AT 230 PM CDT  REPORTS OF COLD AIR FUNNELS WERE RECEIVED AT THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN FARGO NORTH DAKOTA.  THESE COLD
AIR FUNNELS WERE REPORTED BY THE LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
THEY ARE CURRENTLY WATCHING THESE COLD AIR FUNNELS AND WARNINGS WILL
BE ISSUED IF NECESSARY.

COLD AIR FUNNELS ARE NOT ASSOCIATED WITH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AS
ARE THE TYPE OF FUNNEL CLOUD THAT PRODUCES A TORNADO.  COLD AIR
FUNNELS ARE FORMED BY THUNDERSTORMS AND RAINSHOWERS WHEN UNIQUE
METEOROLOGICAL CIRCUMSTANCES ARE MET.
BENNETT

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 1993 Every tornado warning in 1993 Tornadoes in 1993

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.